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SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PCC Community Markets (PCC), Wright Runstad & Company and J.P. Morgan
Asset Management today announced that PCC will open a flagship store in
downtown Seattle’s new Rainier Square project. PCC is the largest
community-owned food market in the U.S. and the first major grocer to
lay stakes in downtown Seattle in more than a decade. PCC will join
Amazon, and Equinox fitness clubs, in their precommitments to the
58-story, 1.17 million-square-foot mixed-use project, which will open in
mid-2020 and is being developed by Wright Runstad & Company and
institutional investors advised by J.P. Morgan Asset Management.

“Downtown Seattle is a vibrant and growing neighborhood with so many
different appetites — from the lunch crowd hungry for a quick,
made-from-scratch bite to tourists craving an authentic taste of our
city to the growing population of residents who want to stock their
kitchens with fresh, local, organic, sustainably sourced and seasonal
fare,” said Cate Hardy, PCC Community Markets CEO. “The opportunity to
be part of this community in the central Rainier Square location is of
incredible significance for our co-op. We are excited about the impact
we can make on behalf of local producers, farmers and ranchers, and the
deeper connection we can foster with the town we’ve called home for 65
years.”

PCC’s new downtown flagship store will occupy 20,000 square feet in the
Rainier Square project. Located on the block between Union and
University and Fourth and Fifth in the heart of downtown, it will have
great proximity to transit, the arts, shopping, hotels, major office
buildings and the convention center. It will serve the downtown,
Belltown, West Edge, Pioneer Square and First Hill neighborhoods, and
bring about 100 new union jobs to the surrounding community.

Rainier Square will be Seattle’s second tallest building and consist of
722,000 square feet of office space, 188 luxury apartments and almost
80,000 square feet of retail space, all above a seven-level underground
parking garage when the project is complete in 2020. A future phase of
the project that will include a luxury-lifestyle hotel is expected to
commence construction in late 2018.

“When we started this project, we knew it would be important to include
a top-quality grocery store not just to serve the residents of the
building, but also the many people who visit or work in the downtown
area,” said Greg Johnson, President of Wright Runstad & Company.
“Rainier Square is an iconic project in the city’s best location and PCC
is Seattle’s iconic food market. It’s the perfect match.”

As with PCC’s other locations, the downtown store will celebrate
products that are fresh, local, organic, sustainably sourced and
seasonal. More than 95 percent of PCC’s produce selection is organic;
its meats are 100 percent organic, non-GMO or grass fed; its seafood is
sustainably sourced adhering to Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch
standards; and, whenever possible, the co-op sources its products from
local producers, farmers, ranchers and fishers. Using those same
ingredients, PCC chefs make salads, soups, entrées and side dishes fresh
from scratch daily onsite in each store.

In addition to attentive and knowledgeable staff, PCC has among the
highest product standards in the country. The co-op stocks its shelves
with products made without harmful artificial preservatives, colors,
flavors, sweeteners, nanotechnology or synthetic biology. It also has
one of the cleanest selections of health and body care products, turning
away more than 500 ingredients allowed at other retailers.

As a community-owned organization, PCC is dedicated to returning a
healthy share of its profits back to the neighborhoods in which it
operates. In 2016, the co-op gave back 38 percent of its after-tax net
earnings to its 58,000 Seattle-area members, and an additional 15
percent of its after-tax net earnings to schools and nonprofits around
the Puget Sound. With the opening of the downtown store, PCC also will
expand its food bank initiative, grocery rescue programs, local
donations and school fundraising to the downtown area.

About PCC Community Markets

Founded in Seattle in 1953, PCC Community Markets (PCC) is the nation’s
largest community-owned food market and WholeFoods Magazine’s
2016 Retailer of the Year. PCC has an active membership spanning more
than 58,000 households. In 2016, the co-op gave 38 percent of its
after-tax net earnings back to its 58,000 Seattle-area members, and an
additional 15 percent of its after-tax net earnings to schools and
nonprofits around the Puget Sound, including PCC Farmland Trust,
Washington Tilth Association and FareStart.

PCC operates 10 stores in the Puget Sound area, including the cities of
Bothell, Edmonds, Issaquah, Kirkland, Redmond and Seattle. Its Seattle
stores are in the neighborhoods of Columbia City, Fremont, Green Lake,
View Ridge, and West Seattle, which will reopen in 2019. The co-op will
open its Burien store in Spring 2018. It also has plans to open new
stores in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood in 2019 and Madison Valley
neighborhood in 2020.

Seattle-based Wright Runstad & Company develops, manages and leases
high-quality commercial office and mixed-use buildings located primarily
in the Pacific Northwest. The company is in its fifth decade as one of
the region’s premier real estate development and operating companies,
delivering outstanding property performance and superior investment
returns. Wright Runstad & Company maintains an exceptional reputation
among tenants and institutional investors for its demonstrated
commitment to integrity and high levels of quality and service. For
additional information, visit www.wrightrunstad.com.

About J.P. Morgan Global Alternatives

J.P. Morgan Global Alternatives is the alternative investment arm of
J.P. Morgan Asset Management. With more than $125 billion in assets
under management and over 800 professionals (as of September 30, 2017),
we offer strategies across the alternative investment spectrum including
real estate, private equity and credit, infrastructure, transportation,
liquid alternatives, and hedge funds. Operating from 23 offices
throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific, our independent
alternative investment engines combine specialist knowledge and singular
focus with the global reach, vast resources and powerful infrastructure
of J.P. Morgan to help meet each client’s specific objectives. For more
information: www.jpmorganassetmanagement.com.